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Title: Characterization of the 1S–2S transition in antihydrogen

Journal Article · · Nature (London)
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  1. Univ. of Liverpool (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics
  2. Aarhus Univ. (Denmark). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  3. Swansea Univ. (United Kingdom). College of Science. Dept. of Physics
  4. Univ. of Manchester (United Kingdom). School of Physics and Astronomy; Sci-Tech Daresbury, Warrington (United Kingdom). Cockcroft Inst.
  5. TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC (Canada)
  6. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  7. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Inst. de Fisica
  8. Ben-Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Beer-Sheva (Israel). Dept. of Physics
  9. Univ. of Calgary, AB (Canada). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  10. Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  11. Simon Fraser Univ., Burnaby, BC (Canada). Dept. of Physics
  12. Aarhus Univ. (Denmark). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy; Swansea Univ. (United Kingdom). College of Science. Dept. of Physics
  13. Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Physics
  14. York Univ., Toronto, ON (Canada). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  15. TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC (Canada); Univ. of Victoria, BC (Canada). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  16. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  17. Swansea Univ. (United Kingdom). College of Science. Dept. of Physics; Univ. of Manchester (United Kingdom). School of Physics and Astronomy
  18. Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC), Yavne (Israel). Soreq Nuclear Research Centre (Soreq NRC)
  19. Marquette Univ., Milwaukee, WI (United States). Physics Dept.
  20. Swansea Univ. (United Kingdom). College of Science. Dept. of Physics; IRFU, CEA/Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex (France)

In 1928, Dirac published an equation1 that combined quantum mechanics and special relativity. Negative-energy solutions to this equation, rather than being unphysical as initially thought, represented a class of hitherto unobserved and unimagined particles—antimatter. The existence of particles of antimatter was confirmed with the discovery of the positron2 (or anti-electron) by Anderson in 1932, but it is still unknown why matter, rather than antimatter, survived after the Big Bang. As a result, experimental studies of antimatter3,4,5,6,7, including tests of fundamental symmetries such as charge–parity and charge–parity–time, and searches for evidence of primordial antimatter, such as antihelium nuclei, have high priority in contemporary physics research. The fundamental role of the hydrogen atom in the evolution of the Universe and in the historical development of our understanding of quantum physics makes its antimatter counterpart—the antihydrogen atom—of particular interest. Current standard-model physics requires that hydrogen and antihydrogen have the same energy levels and spectral lines. The laser-driven 1S–2S transition was recently observed8 in antihydrogen. Here we characterize one of the hyperfine components of this transition using magnetically trapped atoms of antihydrogen and compare it to model calculations for hydrogen in our apparatus. We find that the shape of the spectral line agrees very well with that expected for hydrogen and that the resonance frequency agrees with that in hydrogen to about 5 kilohertz out of 2.5 × 1015 hertz. This is consistent with charge–parity–time invariance at a relative precision of 2 × 10-12—two orders of magnitude more precise than the previous determination8—corresponding to an absolute energy sensitivity of 2 ×10-20 GeV.

Research Organization:
University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-04ER63917
OSTI ID:
1624268
Journal Information:
Nature (London), Vol. 557, Issue 7703; ISSN 0028-0836
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (22)

Lifetime of magnetically trapped antihydrogen in ALPHA journal January 2019
Quantum two-photon emission in a photonic cavity journal August 2019
Separated oscillatory field measurement of hydrogen 2 S 1 / 2 -2 P 3 / 2 fine structure interval journal February 1994
Investigation of the fine structure of antihydrogen journal February 2020
Observation of the 1S–2P Lyman-α transition in antihydrogen journal August 2018
Laser-driven production of the antihydrogen molecular ion journal October 2019
Simulations of Majorana spin flips in an antihydrogen trap journal July 2019
Status of the GBAR experiment at CERN journal January 2019
Direct limits on the interaction of antiprotons with axion-like dark matter journal November 2019
350-fold improved measurement of the antiproton magnetic moment using a multi-trap method journal October 2018
Comparison of classical and quantum models of anti-hydrogen formation through charge exchange journal May 2019
Formation of antihydrogen beams from positron–antiproton interactions journal July 2019
Laser photoexcitation of Rydberg states in helium with n > 400 journal June 2018
Roadmap on photonic, electronic and atomic collision physics: II. Electron and antimatter interactions journal August 2019
Simulations of sawtooth-wave adiabatic passage with losses journal January 2020
Hydrogen molecule-antihydrogen atom potential energy surface and scattering calculations journal August 2019
Tests of discrete symmetries journal November 2019
350-fold improved measurement of the antiproton magnetic moment using a multi-trap method other January 2018
CPT tests with the antihydrogen molecular ion text January 2018
Simulations of Majorana spin flips in an antihydrogen trap text January 2019
Quantum two-photon emission in a photonic cavity text January 2019
Lifetime of Magnetically Trapped Antihydrogen in ALPHA text January 2020